With BearingPoint’s support, Valmet has implemented a new platform in the cloud that makes its project and hedge accounting process much easier. The company has achieved significant improvements in data reliability, reporting efficiency, and financial management, substantially enhancing operational performance and supporting business growth.
The project was a remarkable example of dedicated teamwork: having clear roles and a strong commitment from each member made sure we kept the schedule and achieved great results. The BearingPoint team showed extensive knowledge of many different technologies (Anaplan, Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Power BI) and experience in running similar programs from end to end. They also continually supported our team and built up our own capabilities to ensure a smooth transition to the post go-live process. The outcome is a wonderful reflection of a project well done.
Henna Katainen - Solution Owner, Finance Development at Valmet
Managing financial transactions requires robust IT systems and processes
Seizing international trade opportunities is essential for stock listed companies in order to stay competitive, while managing risks effectively and optimizing finances. One of the most common trading strategies is hedging, which is designed to secure a profit when the odds are favorable for the company, but also minimize the losses when the odds are unfavorable. Therefore, it is vital for these businesses to have reliable systems and processes that can handle such complex trading calculation scenarios.
Valmet, a leading global developer and supplier of process technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries, wanted to develop business opportunities to increase profitability. As a Nasdaq Helsinki-listed company, Valmet had to optimize its revenue recognition, hedging system and processes to better manage its financial operations. They sought to eliminate the tedious work of using multiple tools for financial reporting, disjointed procedures, and inconsistent data, by implementing a customized tool to support its business goals.
Project revenue recognition is a crucial part of Valmet’s financial operations, as a significant share of the company’s revenue is derived from projects. Even small errors and illogical recognition can have a great impact on the company’s overall performance, which is a key challenge the project set out to combat.
Using advanced technologies to build a cutting-edge platform in the cloud
BearingPoint worked closely with Valmet to understand its business and technological needs for designing, developing and launching a new tool landscape to replace the company’s current project revenue recognition and hedging calculation system. Together, they created a concept for the new solution and processes and implemented it in an ambitious program set-up. As a result, the team intertwined various software solutions to develop a new platform, named PROFIT, that eases and optimizes different data sources and hedging methods.
Specifically, Microsoft Azure and SQL automate the data processing and transformations. Anaplan is the calculation engine used to build revenue and cost recognition and hedge accounting results. Ultimately, the calculation results are presented to end users in Power BI reports which showcase the recognized revenue transparently for easy and quick review.
Following a successful pilot project to validate the solution, BearingPoint fully implemented the new tool in all Valmet operations globally. The program was a great team effort, using leading project practices and BearingPoint’s prior experience with similar implementations.
Gaining reliable and transparent data to boost efficiency and business performance
With the new solution, Valmet has achieved an effective project accounting and hedging process that allows it to confidently use accurate data to report on financial performance and make informed decisions to optimize profits. The company can now rely on a customized system that provides transparency and access to real-time data, gaining more flexibility to monitor and adjust its market portfolio in response to daily market volatility. Automation reduced the report processing time by half, especially during the financial month end closing, resulting in more efficiency and time for value-adding controlling work.
Valmet's employees have a single source of truth for project related financial data and a streamlined reporting process that requires far fewer steps, calculation rules and interactions to reconcile numbers. The solution also enables them to manage system issue logs independently of tool vendor support.
Valmet
Valmet is a leading global developer and supplier of process technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries, also offering automation systems and flow control solutions to an even wider base of process industries. The company operates with more than 19,000 professionals around the world and has over 225 years of industrial history and a strong track record in continuous improvement, sustainability, and renewal. Valmet’s net sales in 2024 were approximately EUR 5.4 billion. Valmet’s shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki.
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